Adrenaline, Peace, Movement, Love
My father has been flying ultralight aircraft for over 30 years; therefore, he has shared his love for flying and being in the sky with my brother and me. In Adrenaline, Peace, Movement, Love, size 48cm X 44cm, I aimed to further explore the connection between myself and the sky by focussing on the relationship in which my father has with the sky through depicting an image of his ultralight, a prominent object that I relate to. Movement, peace, adrenaline, and love are emotions which I associate with this relationship and flying in my father鈥檚 plane, thereby I was inspired to explore these feelings. Not everyone is given the same opportunity that I was, to be able to fly in an ultralight, and not everyone experiences a strong relationship with their father, like I have with mine, thereby I want to express this perspective with my audience.
As my dad鈥檚 plane is an outstanding orange colour, which typically flies during Australia鈥檚 golden light, in the morning and afternoon, I was motivated to capture the way light bounces off it. Although, the most significant feeling experienced while flying is the adrenaline, which inspired me to experiment with ways in which movement and speed can be depicted.
Thereby, the Italian futurists were an inspiration to me, as their goal was to capture the speed and movement of flying. Their use of line and abstraction depicted the movement of wind past a plane, whereas situating the subject of the image on an angle captured the adrenaline of taking off and landing. I was influenced to utilise angles in Adrenaline, Peace, Movement, Love to show this feeling. Although, collaging artists, such as Eileen Downes, were most inspiring to me. Her textured works, which incorporated images and words from magazines and scrap pieces of paper showed how something old can be made from something new. This reminded me of how my father鈥檚 love of flying, which he shared with me, has influenced my love of the sky. Thereby, collage was a symbolic technique which I intentionally utilised to harness its sense of movement through the torn edge and transient effect when representing objects.
Adrenaline, Peace, Movement, Love shares the feelings I experience whilst flying; movement, adrenaline, peace and love. The adrenaline experienced from the plane鈥檚 fast movement is shown by the angle in which its composed on, whereas the peaceful gliding of the plane is displayed through the hazy transition between light and dark. My intention was to share these emotions and my appreciation for our vast Australian skies with those who haven鈥檛 been given the opportunity to fly and be closer to the sky to see or feel these perspectives.
